Alternate Reality: Demon
by Celeste5502
Summary: The heroes have to contend with a demonic kidnapper with plans of taking over their world-and realize that King Spencer himself is dealing with a few of his own inner demons...Please R&R!
1. Prologue: Taken

Prologue: Taken

In a small house in Domino, a twelve year old kid was lying on the floor of his bedroom, his homework spread out in front of him. The kid had rather long red hair, dark brown eyes, and was dressed in a red T-shirt and blue jeans.

From downstairs, the kid heard his mother call out, "Elliot! Dinner!"

Almost instantly, the kid jumped up and dashed out of his room all the way over to the kitchen. He slid on his socks on the kitchen floor all the way up to his seat and jumped up onto it.

His mother, dressed in a nice black suit and black heels, was quickly removing an apron from around her waist. "Honey, I'm afraid that I have to go down to the office," she said as she picked up a briefcase from the floor. "The fired co-worker was supposed to give a presentation to the president tonight, so they need me to fill in for him."

"Aw, mom," Elliot moaned, "That's the third time this week!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie," the mom said, stopping her rush to gently stroke her son's hair. "I know I haven't been around too much lately, but I promise that as soon as we find somebody to fill in for the co-worker, you and I will be able to have much more time together." She kissed her son's forehead. "Now, remember the rules: no T.V. until your homework is done, no taking extra snacks, and be in bed by ten, okay?"

"Sure, mom," Elliot muttered.

"Bye, sweetie!" his mom called out as she ran out the door and shut it behind her.

Elliot picked up his fork and pushed his food around his plate for a little bit. Finally, he got up and opened the freezer. He fished around inside of it for a moment, and then pulled out a tub of chocolate ice cream. He slammed the freezer shut, grabbed his spoon off of the table, and dashed into the living room. He set the ice cream down on the coffee table and reached out for the remote-only to find that it wasn't there.

Elliot looked on top of the T.V., under the coffee table, and all around the couch, but the remote was nowhere to be found. "Aw, man," he groaned. "Mom must have hidden it."

He sat down on the couch and sulked for a few moments. Then, however, a look of realization spread across his face. Grinning, he winced his eyes shut, hugged his legs to his chest, and started rocking back and forth on the couch. He was focusing intently on something…

The T.V. suddenly switched on.

Elliot opened his eyes and pumped one fist into the air, cheering, "Psychokinesis wins again!"

Suddenly, the front door to the house was kicked down. The boy whipped around to see two masked man dressed in black, one of whom was holding a damp cloth, run into the room. Before he could react, one of the men dashed around and pinned the boy down to the couch while the other one held the cloth onto his face.

The boy squirmed around in a desperate attempt to escape at first, but eventually the sweet-smelling liquid on the cloth knocked him out cold, and his body went limp.

One man grabbed the boy's arms while the other grabbed his legs. Together, the two carried him outside and shoved him into a dark, unmarked car. As soon as the three were inside, the door slammed shut and the car sped off into the night.

* * *

Elliot awoke to find himself lying down under a raggedy blanket on a red couch. He sat up and looked around to see that he was in a rather large, fancy-looking room. The place shook a little from loud, energetic music that was playing downstairs. Black pendant lights shone off the black linoleum floor and revealed deep, red walls around the place. Behind him, two black-clad men were in the midst of a pool game; Elliot recognized their clothing as the same one which the kidnappers had worn.

"Hello, Elliot," a voice suddenly said.

Elliot turned to see that a bit off to the left of the couch was a black desk propped up near the only windows in the room, which revealed the beautiful nighttime lights of downtown Domino. Sitting at the desk in a black swivel chair was a man wearing a black suit with a light blue shirt. While his hair was a short brown, his eyes were the same dark brown as Elliot's.

"Dad?" Elliot cried.

"That's right, son," the father said, getting up from his desk and walking over to the couch. "I'm sorry that my boys knocked you out like that, even though I specifically told them that wouldn't be necessary!"

His last comment was directed to the two men playing pool, who now hung their heads in both shame and fear.

"Dad, I thought Mom said you weren't allowed to come near me," Elliot said. "Something about a restraining order…"

"Yeah, well, how could I be prevented from seeing my own son ever again?" The father sat down on the couch. "No one should have the right to take that away from me." He smiled. "There's a lotta lost time we gotta make up for, sport, and I plan on spending lots of it witcha from now on."

Elliot hugged his father, happy to finally have a parent that was actually around for him.

"And I was actually hopin' that we could start tonight, sport," his father said.

Elliot eagerly looked up into his dad's eyes. "What are we gonna do, Dad?"

"Well, sport," his father replied, "I was thinkin' that we could put that little psychokinetic power of yours to use…"


	2. Chapter One: Distress Call

Chapter One: Distress Call

_King Spencer was standing in a cold, dark place. He looked around and thought to himself, _Where am I?

_Suddenly, a spotlight shone down onto one part of the room, illuminating a boy who stood with his back to Spencer. _

_Spencer's eyes widened. He could sense the child's power, and he'd know it anywhere. "My gods…" he whispered. He smiled and started running towards the kid._

_Before he could reach him, however, a nasty, unseen creature suddenly rose up from the darkness. Spencer froze as he watched the creature loom above the child._

_"NO!" he screamed out in horror. He tried to run, but he suddenly felt something grasp his ankle, pulling him down onto the ground. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Resheph and Susiros were standing behind him. Grasped in Resheph's hand was the lamp, which had sent out a golden rope of magic that was now tied around Spencer's ankle and pulling him back towards them._

_Spencer looked back to see the creature crash down on the boy, completely engulfing him inside of its slimy self. Slowly, the creature slid back into the darkness, taking the child with it._

_Spencer tried desperately to crawl back towards the child, but the rope kept a firm grasp on him. _

_"Eet's too late to do aneetheeng now, Spencer," Resheph mocked him. "He ees gone."_

_"And all you can do is wonder why," Susiros finished._

_The two laughed loudly and evilly as Spencer started transforming into gold sparks, beginning with his feet and spreading up his entire body, which were sucked right into the nozzle of the lamp._

_"NOOOOOO!" Spencer screamed._

* * *

Spencer bolted upwards in his bed, breathing heavily and covered in sweat.

"It was…just…a dream…Spencer," he panted out to himself. "Calm…down…"

When he finally got control of himself, he looked out the window and saw that the sun was shining brightly. He pulled his knees up to his chest and stared down at his feet. "By the gods…" he murmured to himself. "I thought I was finally through with those dreams…"

He looked over at the gold nightstand to his left. On top of it was his cell phone, a digital clock that read 8 A.M., his gold ring with an Egyptian eye, and a small photograph. Spencer picked the photo up and gazed at it sadly.

"Why are you gone, little one…" he whispered. He held the photo close to his chest. A small gold tear rolled down his face.

Suddenly, Spencer's cell phone started to ring. He picked it up and flipped it open.

"Hello?..._Sí, _this is Spencer…What?" Spencer set his feet down on the side of the bed and stood up. "When did this happen?...Door smashed down and everything…By the gods…Okay, tell her that my friends in that world and I will be there as soon as possible…Thank you. Goodbye."

Spencer shut the cell phone and snapped his fingers. His PJs, a sleeve-less black shirt, black slacks, and socks, transformed into his typical outfit of a different black sleeve-less shirt, blue slacks with blue boots at the bottoms, a short blue cape, and black belts with silver studs wrapped around his waist and neck. He opened the drawer on his nightstand and pulled out a silver box with a small opening on the top.

He placed the box onto the ground and zapped a small gold spark into its opening. A white light shot out of the box and formed a portal which led to the inside of what looked like an abandoned warehouse.

Spencer stepped through the portal into the other world; once he was through, the portal vanished back into its box.

* * *

In the other world, Yugi, Joey, Tristan, and Téa were walking over to Yugi's house. School had only just let out, so they were still clad in their uniforms. Joey and Yugi were telling the other two about the adventure they had missed while they were gone.

"…and so, wit de freak Jet down an de king and princess restored wit deir powers, Princess Angie was able ta marry de _real _Prince of Rayne and dey all lived happily ever after," Joey finished.

"That's so romantic," Téa sighed. "I'm sorry that I missed the whole thing."

"Don't be," Joey said, rolling his eyes. "A trip wit Kaiba isn't as fun as it seems."

"Didn't you enjoy New York?" Yugi asked Téa.

She smiled. "Oh, of course I did! I got to see so many different dancers. Some of them practically floated on air!" Her eyes practically sparkled with delight. "It'd be a dream come true if one day I could get up on the stage with them!"

"Hmm, dancing, eh?" someone suddenly said. "I knew that your dreams were connected somehow with the arts, I just wasn't sure which one."

The four looked to see that sitting on the turtle sign of the Game Shop Yugi's grandfather ran was a familiar being that looked much like the Pharaoh except for more orange-tanned skin.

"Spencer!" everyone cried.

"Hello, everyone," Spencer smiled and got up off the sign. "You might not want to look so excited, though; I'm here because of another crisis."

"What happened?" Yugi asked.

"Man, don't tell me Resheph's back to destroy us again," Tristan groaned.

"No, no, it's nothing like that," Spencer assured them. "This involves a kidnapping. Recently, a former Kingrah resident known as Mary Mashin called the police to report that her son Elliot had apparently been kidnapped last night while she was at work. She came home to find the door busted down and the kid missing."

"Wait-if dis involves someone from your world, den why did you come here instead a callin' us?" Joey asked.

Spencer grinned. "Because Ms. Mashin lives here in Domino."

The four stared at him. "A resident of your world is living here?" Yugi said.

Spencer nodded. "After the whole crisis that came about when I was locked away and people were freaking out about Resheph attacking at any second, thousands of my people fled to other worlds and times where they could live without being under such a frequent state, and now many of them have actually kind of settled down in their new homes. Mary Mashin and her husband and son were three of those that fled and chose to stay."

"People from your world living in ours…" Tristan said. "Wonder why the magical balance didn't shift sooner."

"We'll learn more about this later," Spencer said. "Right now, though, we should get the others over here and go talk to poor Ms. Mashin. It's possible that she might have some information as to where exactly her son went."


	3. Chapter Two: Break In

Chapter Two: Break-In

_The night before…_

Elliot and his father were sitting in the back of the black unmarked car. His father's men were in the front, clutching black masks in their hands.

"Where are we going, Dad?" Elliot asked.

"You'll see, sport," his father replied.

The car finally slowed down and stopped right in front of a small building with large glass windows and doors that revealed a dark interior. The sign above the building read: _Dote Banking_.

"What are we doing here?" Elliot gazed out the window at the building. "The bank's closed."

"Really? My, what a shame. Guess we'll hafta get in ourselves, then." The father called out to his men in the front, "Boys, get up there."

The two men stepped out of the car, pulling their masks down over their faces. They dashed up to the door and gazed inside, seeing the faint red lights of cameras and green glows of security panels inside.

The father looked down at Elliot. "Sport, this place is heavily guarded by a ton of those security systems and cameras. You think you can use that power of yours ta shut em down?"

Elliot stared at his father. "But Dad…isn't that illegal?"

"C'mon, sport," his father said. "I really need to get that cash in there. And you wouldn't want your ol' man to be short on dough, would ya?" He lovingly put one arm around his son.

Elliot thought for a moment. Finally, he hugged his legs to his chest, shut his eyes, and started rocking back and forth a little.

Inside, the two henchmen saw the red and green lights shut off, leaving the place in near utter darkness. Grinning, one of them raised their hand up and aimed it at the glass door. A red beam of magic shot out and smashed the door into pieces.

Elliot watched as the two men dashed inside of the building and came back out ten minutes later carrying zapped-up bags filled to the brim with yen. The men rushed back into the front of the car and threw the bags into the back, right onto Elliot and his father's laps. One of the men then quickly started the car and did a wide U-turn that sent them speeding back down the street.

Elliot's father laughed and tossed some of the yen into the air as though it were confetti. "What a load! What beautiful, powerful yen!" he cried out. He looked down at his son. "All thanks to you and that incredible power of yours, sport."

Elliot didn't reply. He stared down at the piles of cash on his lap. "Dad…this is other peoples' money. We shouldn't have taken it."

His father shook his head. "Sport, sport, sport…when you've got powers like that, you should be able to take whatever you want with it." He snorted. "Besides, it's not our fault that we're blessed and everyone else in this world isn't."

Elliot looked down at the ground. "That doesn't mean we should take advantage of it," he murmured.

"Now then, sport," his father continued, "tomorrow night I'd like it if you could do me another favor."

Elliot looked up at him. "What now, Dad?"

"There's this little ritual that I'd like to complete back at my place, son, and…I could really use your help with it."

Elliot paused. "What's the ritual for?"

"Oh, a couple dozen of my friends or so have been locked away for some time, and with your help, sport, this ritual could finally help break them out and bring them to this world."

"Break them out?" Elliot cried. "Dad, are these friends of yours in jail?"

"In a sense…"

"Okay, Dad, I'm sorry, but I can't help you break people out of the slammer! That would be wrong and you know it! No wonder Mom didn't want you to ever see me again!" He turned towards the car door and prepared to open it and jump out.

His father, however, suddenly grabbed his arm and yanked him back onto the seat. Elliot looked up and saw that his father's dark brown eyes suddenly glowed with a red light. "First of all, sport, it's not people that we're going to be breaking out. Not even close. Second of all, it's not a jail they've been locked into; it's a created world which they have been magically sealed within." His father grinned evilly. "But with the god powers that you have, my son, you can help to break that seal. And when you do…" Suddenly, his father's skin turned black with various red, swirled tattoos, and his ears became pointed. "Together, all of us shall be able to rule this pathetic, magic-less world."

Elliot cowered down as his father and two henchmen started laughing, their outlines glowing with deep red light.


	4. Chapter Three: A Mother's Lament

Chapter Three: A Mother's Lament

After Spencer called Bakura and, to his great surprise and disbelief, Seto Kaiba ("How can one have magic if he can't even say the word 'magic'?") the seven kids went over to the home of Ms. Mary Mashin. Inside, they found Ms. Mashin had magically zapped the door back onto its hinges, and was now sitting on her couch, her head buried in her hands.

"Ms. Mashin?" Spencer said as the seven walked inside. "We have arrived."

Ms. Mashin looked up at them, revealing red, puffy eyes and tear streaks on her face. "Oh, your majesty," she said, "thank you so much for coming. I know that you must have a lot of stuff to do back at home, but…"

"No, my dear, don't worry about it," Spencer said, sitting down and taking one of her hands. "Any concern involving someone from my world is important, no matter who or what they are. Now, please, tell us what you suspect about your son's disappearance."

Ms. Mashin looked down at the floor. "It was his father. He must have taken Elliot."

"Your husband?" Yugi asked.

Ms. Mashin rolled her eyes. "My _ex_-husband. We divorced not long after Elliot was born."

"So, Ms. Mashin, what makes you think that it had to be your husband that took Elliot?" Yugi asked.

"Well…a little bit after Elliot was born, I noticed that his father started taking him upstairs and locking him inside of Elliot's room for long periods of time. His father claimed that the two of them were just spending some quality time together, but I was getting suspicious. Finally, one day I used my pure magic form to sneak in and spy on them." She started shaking with fright. "I…I saw that my husband was summoning these evil entities from another realm and having them conduct all of these constant rituals and such on our child…I confronted him…I found out that he's actually a…" She started crying again. "He's a demon!" she finally proclaimed.

The six kids from the current world stared at her. "Demons are real?" Bakura said. "Oh my…"

Joey turned and started staring intently at Kaiba. Tristan saw him staring and whispered to Joey, "What are you doing?"

"Maybe dis explains why de heck a jerk like him even exists," Joey whispered back.

"So Ms. Mashin, you think that your husband has taken your son in an attempt to get him to become evil?" Yugi said.

"It's not that," she sobbed. "I think it's much worse…After I kicked him out of my house, I sealed up his friends inside of their realm with a barrier that can only be broken with god powers. I think my husband wants to use our son's god powers to unlock that barrier and bring all of them back here…my gods, Elliot will use up so much of his power opening the barrier up…the loss could kill him!"

"Ms. Mashin, didn't you put up anything to protect your son in case your husband himself came back?" Téa asked.

"Yes, of course…I put up the strongest, most powerful anti-demon barriers that I could find in every spell book and such that I had…but my husband apparently got himself some plain ol' magical henchmen…" She put her face back down into her hands. "How could I have been so stupid…" she sobbed.

All the time that Ms. Mashin had been talking about her husband's actions with Elliot, Spencer had been staring off into space, the look on his face becoming more and more perturbed. Finally, he turned to Ms. Mashin and asked, "Ms. Mashin, do you know where your husband might have taken your son?"

Ms. Mashin simply continued sobbing, letting out a small murmur: "I don't know, I don't know…"

"MS. MASHIN!" Spencer suddenly yelled. "WHERE WOULD YOUR HUSBAND HAVE TAKEN YOUR SON?"

She looked up in shock. Finally, she let out, "Well…the only place that I can think of is the nightclub that he owns downtown, _Smokin' Moves_…he lives right above it and almost never leaves the place…"

Spencer nodded. "Thank you, ma'am," he said. He stood up and turned to the six heroes. "All right, everybody, go home and find your best nightclub clothes and moves-and if you don't have any moves," Spencer said before Joey and Tristan could interrupt with jokes, "then zap some up-tonight we absolutely have to get into that nightclub and get rid of that rotten little son-of-a-baka demon!"

With that, he turned and stormed out of the house, slamming the door shut behind him.

The six heroes stared after him. "What de heck is his problem?" Joey asked.

"He must really hate demons," Tristan said.

* * *

Outside, Spencer stood with his back up against the door. He was absolutely livid, so much that one could almost see smoke coming out of his ears.

_How dare he do something like that…_Spencer thought. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the photo once more. Tears started streaming down his face.

"That baka…" Spencer sobbed. "I'll teach him a lesson if it's the last thing I do!"


	5. Chapter Four: Clubbin'

Chapter Four: Clubbin'

That night, almost all of downtown Domino was silent, save for the one nightclub called _Smokin' Moves_. The building was painted entirely black with a red awning over the entrance. A neon sign hung from the side of the building that kept flashing the name of the club in bright red letters. The pounding music from the inside was so loud that the outside was shaking a little, save for the muscular, stone-faced guard that stood at the entrance to the place.

Two alleys down from the nightclub, the seven defenders were peeking around the corner at the entrance. They had changed into their best nightclub get-ups, meaning they wore various clothing in shades of black and dark blue.

"Okaay…so how do we get past dat guy widdout gettin' pummeled inta pieces?" Joey asked.

Kaiba stared at him. "How are you going to get past him? You have powers that let you blast any creature you please into pieces, and you're stupid enough to ask how you're going to get past one human?!"

Joey glared at him. "If dat was your way of askin' can I be de distraction dat dat guy beats up while de rest of you sneak inta de club, den de answer is heck yes."

"CAN IT, BOTH OF YOU!" Spencer suddenly yelled. "Focus on the task at hand! Geez…"

Everyone now stared at Spencer. "Spencer, is everything O.K.?" Yugi asked.

"Everything's fine," Spencer replied. "Now, c'mon, someone figure out how we can get past that brick wall at the door."

"I have an idea," Téa smiled. "Wait here, guys."

Téa stepped out of the alley and walked down the street to the entrance of _Smokin' Moves_. "Excuse me," she said to the guard.

The guard stared at this girl. She was a beautiful brunette with sky-blue eyes that she batted at him flirtatiously. She wore a dark blue tube top, black shorts, knee-high black socks, and dark blue shoes with gold hoop bracelets. "This is the hottest club in town, isn't it?" she asked in a very sweet and flirty voice.

"Um…yes, it is…" the guard said, blushing.

"Oh, I should have guessed," she laughed. "The hottest club in town would have to have the hottest guard in town."

The guard grinned and straightened up, sticking his chest out a little.

"Now then," she asked. "Is it okay if I go in?"

"Of course, miss," he said.

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" she said excitedly, clapping her hands together. She walked towards the door, but before she entered, she turned back to the guard and said, "Oh, wait…I have a little something more I'd like to tell you…"

"Yes, miss?" the guard turned to face her eagerly.

"No, no, come closer," she said, making a 'come hither' movement with her index finger.

The guard moved a few steps towards her.

"Closer," she insisted.

Finally, he was standing right next to her. "That's good," she said. She stood on her tip-toes, put her mouth close to his ear-

-and let out a loud banshee shriek that knocked him out cold. He fell on the ground with a loud _thud_.

"Okay, everyone, the coast is clear!" she called out to the others.

The other six came out of the alley and walked towards the nightclub. Joey stared down at the guard and said, "Geez, how thick-headed can ya get?"

The seven pushed the door open and walked inside of the club. The place was packed with various teens that moved along to the music blasting through the speakers propped up all over the room. Red and blue strobe lights flashed all over the dancers, illuminating both them and the various waitresses that moved around with trays of sodas, sushi, and rice balls. In the back, the seven could just make out a locked door which, again, was guarded by a huge, beefy man.

"Okay, so we're inside," Tristan yelled out over the music. "Now how do we get to the owner?"

Spencer slapped a hand over his mouth. "Yeah, that's right, Tristan, tell the whole world about our plan!" he whispered aloud. He put his hand down and reached into his pocket, pulling out a letter. "Besides, I've already got that figured out, so thank you oh so much for almost spoiling it."

He walked towards the guard in a huff, with the other six staring at his back. "Has he always been this rather crabby?" Bakura asked.

"No, not at all…" Yugi said. "Something must be wrong…"

The six walked up to Spencer and the guard right as Spencer handed him the letter. "_Por favor_ give this note to the owner," he said with a smile. "I'm sure that once he sees it, he'll let us up."

The guard turned and opened the door, revealing a steel staircase, then slammed it shut behind him.

"What did dat note say?" Joey asked him.

"It said, and I quote: _Mr. Machin, I, King Spencer, have returned from my imprisonment. I know all about your true demon identity and how you're planning on using your son to release all of your little demonic friends back into this world. So, either you let me and my friends up there right now to bring your son back to his mom and to bring you to the nice, cold jailhouse where you belong, or we're just gonna blow up this place in doing so. It's your choice._

Everyone stared at him in horror. "And you yell at _me _for blabbing out our plan to everyone?" Tristan cried.

"Spencer, what if he doesn't let us in?" Yugi cried out. "We can't seriously tear this place down!"

Spencer glared down at him. "Yugi, haven't you learned _anything _about bad guys? If you reveal that you know their evil plot, then of course they're going to get at you in an attempt to stop you from stopping them. Tearing the place down won't be necessary." He paused. "And even if we do, then you can make a force field big enough to cover all these people, right?"

Everyone's jaw dropped. Before anyone could respond, the door opened again. The guard stood panting in the doorway, as though he'd just run down the stairs. "The boss says he will most definitely see you," he growled.

"Told ya," Spencer grinned. "Now then, let's go." The seven started walking up the stairs, with the guard slamming the door behind them.

Once the seven reached the top, they came across a black doorway with a sign on the door that said: _Enter at your own risk._

Spencer stared at the sign for a moment, then tore it right off the door and ripped it up into pieces. He grabbed the doorknob and slammed the doorway open, almost knocking it off its hinges in the process.

Inside, the teens came across a fancy black and red room with a pool table, a red couch, and a desk positioned by the only windows in the place. In the center of the room was a kid with red hair and dark brown eyes tied with tight ropes to a black chair. He looked up at them with fear in his eyes.

"Elliot?" Spencer asked the child.

The kid slowly nodded.

"I'm King Spencer, from your mom's world," he said, walking inside with the others close behind him. "You have no need to worry; my friends and I have come to take you home."

"I don't think so," a voice suddenly said.

The seven whipped around to see a man with dark brown hair and eyes slam the stairway door shut. He grinned evilly at them. "No one's going anywhere at the moment, your majesty," he smiled. Two other goons stepped out from the shadows of the room and stood at their boss' side, their outlines glowing with red magic. "In fact, none of you are going to get out of here at all."


	6. Chapter Five: Demon Down

Chapter Five: Demon Down

"So, Mr. Mashin…" Spencer pointed at Elliot. "Is this the way that you honestly treat your own son?"

Mr. Mashin shrugged. "Well, I could have treated him better if he hadn't been poisoned by the good and noble values of his pure magic mother; since he has, however, I'm afraid that he must remain like that until he completes the ritual for me."

Yugi's Millennium Puzzle glowed, and the Pharaoh took over for him. "You might as well let him go now," he said, allowing his outline to glow with blue light, "since we're never going to let you do so."

"We'll see about that." Mr. Mashin's eyes glowed with red light. "Boys, tear these seven limb from limb."

The two henchmen shot beams of red magic out at the seven; however, the Pharaoh quickly held up his hands and created a force field which protected them. In the meantime, Joey and Tristan fired beams of magic out at one henchman, while Téa and Bakura fired at the other one.

The two henchmen were smashed into the wall; however, they quickly got back up and dashed in a rage towards the force field. Kaiba, though, raised his hand up. The pendant lights smashed open as crackling bolts of electricity were flung down onto the henchmen, sending them flying back to the floor.

In the meantime, Spencer had taken his gold magic and used it to slash through the ropes which bound Elliot. He helped Elliot out of the chair and said, "C'mon, bro, let's take you home."

At that moment, however, Mr. Mashin raised his hands up. Black, clawed hands suddenly shot up from out of the ground and grabbed the seven defenders' ankles and his son's. The shock of the capture made the Pharaoh take the force field down, giving Mr. Mashin the opportunity to fire out red magic at them. While the six teens from this world went back into the wall, however, Spencer went soaring back out at the windows, shattering them into pieces.

"Spencer!" the Pharaoh cried out as he clutched desperately onto the ledge. The six dashed over to the window and the Pharaoh and Joey each took one of his arms.

Mr. Mashin rose his hand up again. A black portal appeared below Spencer's feet, and black clawed hands reached out of it and grabbed at his ankles.

While the tug-of-war went on between the defenders and the demon-like entities, Mr. Mashin walked over to his child, still struggling to set himself free from the demonic claws, and shoved a piece of paper into his hands. "Now then, sport-read this."

"NO, I WON'T!" Elliot screamed.

His father grabbed him in a choke-hold with one arm and pointed a hand sparking red magic directly at his son's head with the other. "SAY IT!" he yelled out.

Quaking with fright, his son started chanting in a strange, ancient language. A black portal with blue bars of magic blocking it opened up in front of the two. Elliot started glowing with blue, magical light which fired out towards the blue bars. As the blue bars started eroding away and black, clawed hands with red tattoo swirls slowly started making their way out of the portal, Elliot grew weak, his voice faltering and his body starting to sink to the floor.

Finally, both the Pharaoh and Joey got the idea to fire beams of blue and green magic down towards the demonic claws that grasped Spencer. The blast forced the claws back down into the portal, which vanished as soon as they retreated.

Once the Pharaoh and Joey pulled Spencer up, he shoved them out of his way and aimed a hand towards Mr. Mashin. He chanted out,

_May the underworld take this demon's power_

_And make him human in this dark hour._

Gold magic shot out at Mr. Mashin and enveloped him within its light. Mr. Mashin screamed as his outline started glowing with red light, and a black portal opened up beneath his feet. Slowly, red magic started flowing out of his body and down into the portal. The grasp on his son weakened, and Elliot sank from the chokehold onto the ground, knocked out from the exhaustion of the ritual. The blue light which shot out of him faded away, and the blue bars over the portal were restored to their full power, sending the demonic claws back inside and the black portal back into nothingness.

Mr. Mashin sank down to his knees as the last of his magic was taken from him, and he returned to his human form for good.

"And anodder bad guy bites de dust," Joey grinned.

Mr. Mashin slowly got to his feet. He turned and glared at King Spencer. "How dare you…" he snarled. "How dare you take away my power."

Spencer snarled at him. "How dare _I_?" he hissed out angrily. He held his hand out in front of him and a staff similar to the Dark Magician's appeared. Spencer took the staff and aimed it directly at the former demon, sending another beam of gold magic out at him. Mr. Mashin went flying into the wall.

Spencer walked over to him, his outline glowing furiously with golden magic. "How could you take your own son-your own flesh and blood-and try to use every last bit of his magic and life for your own evil, selfish purposes?" He stopped in front of Mr. Mashin, who was on his hands and knees on the ground. "You're his father. You're supposed to guide him…you're supposed to be there for him…" Spencer lifted his staff up, letting the tip glow with gold magic. "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HIM, YOU SON-OF-A-BAKA!"

Spencer brought the staff down upon his back. Mr. Mashin screamed out in pain as the magic slashed through him. Spencer, however, didn't stop there. The others watched in horror as he kept slashing at Mr. Mashin, screaming out "YOU NASTY, SICK, DISGUSTING, ROTTEN LITTLE-"

The Millennium Puzzle glowed, and Yugi took over. He dashed over to Spencer and grabbed his arm. "Spencer, that's enough! We've beaten him already!"

"Yugi, back off!" Spencer said over his shoulder.

"Spencer, STOP!" Yugi finally cried, yanking his arm off of the staff.

Spencer lowered his staff. "Yugi," he said in an eerily calm voice, "I…said…"

He whipped around and aimed the staff at Yugi. "BACK OFF!"

He fired a gold beam of magic directly out at him. Screaming, Yugi went spiraling back into the wall and sank down to the floor.

"YUGI!" the others (save for Kaiba) cried out, rushing over towards him.

Spencer suddenly froze. He stared in absolute shock and horror at his unconscious friend. The staff fell out of his hand and vanished into thin air.

Finally, he snapped his fingers and a portal appeared which led back to his bedroom. Before the others could react, Spencer jumped inside of the portal and let it vanish behind him, leaving the rest shocked and confused.


	7. Chapter Six: Goodbye

Chapter Six: Goodbye

Yugi slowly opened his eyes. He found himself lying on the ground of the abandoned warehouse, with a pillow placed under his head and a blanket covering him up. His head hurt terribly and there was a jolting pain in his right arm. Joey and Téa were kneeling down beside him, watching him with fear in their eyes.

"Yugi, you're awake!" Téa said with a sigh of relief.

"Hey guys, he's up!" Joey called over his shoulder.

Tristan and Bakura were standing at the end of the warehouse where Spencer had last set up a portal, zapping at the area in what looked like an attempt to reopen it. Now the two stopped firing and dashed over to Yugi as he slowly sat up, clutching his right arm in pain. He looked around the warehouse and asked, "Where are the others?"

Joey rolled his eyes. "Kaiba went home, but he left you a nice little message." Then he said with a rasping imitation of Kaiba's voice: "'If dis is how your friends treat you, I can only imagine what your worst enemies do.'"

"What happened to Spencer?"

"He bolted right after he almost destroyed you," Tristan snarled. "Then he sent over a couple of Kingrah police to take Mr. Mashin and his flunkies into custody and return Elliot to his mom."

"De coward!" Joey yelled. "He has de nerve ta fire at you, an den he just runs off!"

At that moment, the portal suddenly reopened on the one side of the warehouse. The five turned to see Spencer standing on the other side of it, with a gold-glowing glass bottle with a note tied onto it clutched in his hands and a saddened look in his eyes.

"Spencer!" Joey yelled, jumping up and running over to him.

Before he reached the portal, however, Spencer tossed the bottle out at him, forcing Joey to stop as he caught it. He then snapped his fingers, and the entryway vanished.

"JERK!" Joey yelled after him. He turned around and walked back to Yugi, with the bottle gripped firmly in his hands. He looked at the note and muttered, "What de heck does dis say?"

As he read it, his eyes grew wide. He handed the bottle to Yugi and said, "It's for you."

Yugi looked at the note. It read:

_Yugi, this is some of my healing power in a liquid form. You can drink it to heal your injuries._

_Goodbye, defender. We shall never meet again._

Yugi took the note off and handed it to Tristan, who read it while Téa and Bakura looked at it over his shoulder. Yugi opened the bottle and started drinking the fluid. A warm feeling came over his body, and his body glowed with gold light. Almost instantly, the pain in his head and arm vanished.

"'We shall never meet again'?!" Tristan yelled. "First he almost kills you and then he doesn't even come back and apologize?!" He crumpled the note up in his hands. "What a nasty little-"

"Guys, don't," Yugi said.

The others turned and stared at him.

"I don't think he intentionally meant to hurt me," Yugi said. "There was something about our last mission which made him suddenly snap, some sort of angry feeling deep down which he finally had to unleash-and unfortunately, I was the closest thing that he had to do it on." He looked down at the note. "Now he's probably scared that he might do it again…Poor guy…"

The other four stared down at him. "Yug, man, how can you just forgive him like dat?" Joey asked.

"It's because I know him…" Yugi said. "That wasn't the real Spencer that was out tonight…It was something else affecting him…" Yugi looked up at the ceiling. "I just wish I knew what it was…"

* * *

Spencer was lying on his bed, his face buried into one of his blue pillows. "Dear gods…" his muffled voice sobbed out. "Dear gods, dear gods…"

A white orb of light appeared in the corner of his room. The orb of light grew until it became a light-filled portal through which three shadowy figures stared out at him.

_Spencer! _one of them cried out telepathically.

"Go away," Spencer's muffled voice said angrily. "I'm not in the mood for one of your lectures."

_Spencer, you nearly destroyed one of the defenders of that world!_

Spencer lifted his head up, his face stained with gold tears and his eyes red, puffy, and glaring. "You think I don't know that?!" he screamed out at them. "You think I haven't been in here beating myself up for even considering doing such a heartless, nasty thing?!" He buried his face back into the pillow.

_Spencer, you need to go back and apologize to Yugi. You need to explain to all of them why you suddenly snapped like that._

Spencer lifted his head back up. "Why bother?" he groaned. "Like they'd ever understand…" He took the photo which he'd placed back onto his nightstand and stared at it with tears in his eyes. "The pain which I went through…the horror which I endured…" The tears started flowing again. "It'd be incomprehensible for them…they're just teenagers…"

_You'd be surprised, Spencer,_ the being said. _Your friend Yugi might even be the most understanding of all._

"Are you insane?!" Spencer yelled. "He probably never wants to see me again! You think he could even start to comprehend my pain after I nearly blew him up?!" He looked down and sighed. "I can't ever face him again…"

_Spencer,_ the figure now spoke in an authoritative voice. _Either you go back and apologize and explain yourself, or we'll take some nice, drastic measures to make you do so._

Spencer snorted. "If you guys manage to do that, I'll bring offerings of fruits to your temple for a week!" He pulled the pillow out from under his head and pressed it over his ear. "Now get out of my house."

The three figures remained and watched him sob while staring at the photo for a little while. Then the light-filled portal shrank back into an orb and soared away.

* * *

"How can he just cut himself off like that?!" the second of the shadowy figures cried. The three still stood at their portal entryway. "Does he have any idea what he's doing?"

_Of course he doesn't, F.S.,_ the first communicated telepathically. _How would he know that they will be the ones to reunite him with the one he lost? _He sighed.

"Okay, so how are we going to get him to apologize and reconnect with them?" the second said. "I don't know of one thing we could do which would actually bring him and the defenders together, _and_ make him apologize and talk about why he snapped.

_Unless…_The first figure suddenly got an idea. _What if we took away something from Spencer… something which he couldn't have back unless, thanks to my little spell, he finally went back, apologized, and talked about his heartache…_

"What in the world could we take that would be of that much importance to him?" the second asked.

The first smiled. _Oh, I have an idea… _


	8. Epilogue: Exchanged

Epilogue: Exchanged

The next afternoon, the six heroes of the other world had to stay after school for cleaning duty.

"Well, isn't dis so much fun…" Joey said sarcastically as he swept up pieces of paper from the floor.

"Could you please explain to me why one would even have powers when they're too afraid of someone catching them using them?" Kaiba asked as he scrubbed a desk.

Joey smiled sweetly at him. "Well, for starters, dey let one do dis." He pointed a finger and sent a green spark out at Kaiba and directly into his eye.

"HEY!" he yelled as he rubbed the stung eye.

As Téa emptied out a trash can, she noticed that Yugi was wiping the blackboard very half-heartedly, with a downcast look on his face. "Yugi, is everything O.K.?" she asked.

"Hmm?" He looked up at her. "Oh, yes…I'm just worried about Spencer, that's all…"

"Don't be, man," Joey said, rolling his eyes. "He's gone and he's probably good riddance ta us."

Yugi shook his head. "I don't think so, Joey…something must be wrong with him." He turned around and dropped the rag he held into a bucket on his desk. "I want to help him…I just don't know how I can…"

_We do, Yugi,_ a voice spoke.

The six looked to see that right behind Yugi, the orb of white light had appeared and grown to become the light-filled portal where the three shadowy figures stood and looked at them.

"Hey, it's you guys!" Tristan cried out in realization.

"What are you tree doin' here now?" Joey asked.

_We saw what happened yesterday between Yugi and Spencer. _The first being lowered his head and gazed down at Yugi. _You do want to know why that happened, don't you?_

Yugi nodded. "Yes, I do, but…" He turned and gazed down into the soapy bucket of water. "I don't know how that will even be possible…"

_It will be, thanks to a little something called…_The first figure raised his hand up and pointed it at Yugi…._magic._

Yugi suddenly felt a strange feeling pass through him. He looked down and saw that his outline was glowing with black and white magic. "Wha…?" he said.

He was suddenly lifted up into the air. "YUGI!" the others cried out.

"HEY, WHAT ARE YA DOIN' TA HIM?" Joey yelled out.

_You'll see._

A strange force suddenly made Yugi shut his eyes. He felt as though his body had transformed into thousands of his blue sparks which soared up and away…and yet he felt that he was still there in the classroom…

_What's happening to me?_

A few moments later, he felt sparks once again surround him and return him to a physical state…but the state wasn't his own…he felt different…taller…more powerful…

The first shadowy being lowered his hand. Yugi felt himself drop down on his hands and knees onto the floor.

_There. That's done, _the shadowy figure communicated. _The rest is up to you now. Goodbye._

With that, Yugi could sense the shadowy figure's portal shrink into an orb and soar away.

"YOU!" Joey yelled.

The next thing Yugi knew, Joey had jumped over the desk, grabbed him by his shirt collar and pinned him onto the blackboard. The others were also glaring nastily at him, except for Kaiba, who simply looked away and finished washing off the desk.

"All right, start talkin'!" Joey yelled. "Why'd you go and attack im like dat?! How could you even tink about doin' it?!"

"Don't you know that you could have killed him?!" Tristan added.

Yugi stared at them in shock and horror. "Guys, what are you talking about?" he asked, his voice shaking with fright.

"Don't try and play dumb wit us, your royal highness," Joey sneered. "You know what you did yesterday, and we're not lettin' you go until you explain yourself!"

"'Your royal highness'?" Yugi repeated. "Where did that come from?"

"You're de king of your precious magical world, aren't you, _Spencer_?"

Yugi stared at him. "What?"

"Hold on a minute," Téa said. She looked up at Yugi and asked, "How did you get the Millennium Puzzle?"

Yugi blinked. "You know that, Téa. My grandpa gave it to me when he came back from one of his trips to Egypt. It took me nearly eight years to solve it."

Now even Kaiba turned to stare at him. Slowly, Joey let Yugi get back down onto the ground, with a stunned look on his face. "Yug?" he said in disbelief.

"Yes, of course," Yugi said. He looked around at his friends' faces. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked.

"Uh, Yug?" Joey asked. "Have you been listenin' ta your own voice?"

"What do you mean listening to my-" He froze. He slapped a hand over his mouth; however, he caught a glimpse of the hand and stared down at it.

It certainly wasn't his. The fingers were more elongated, and the skin was more of an orange-tan.

He looked down at himself and realized his school clothes had been replaced with a black sleeve-less shirt, blue pants with blue boots attached to the bottom, a short blue cape, and black belts with silver studs around his neck and waist. Only his Millennium Puzzle remained around his neck.

And when he let some of his magic glow, it wasn't blue-it was pure gold.

Yugi looked at his friends in absolute shock. "I…I'm Spencer?" he breathed out.

_To be continued…_


End file.
